House of the Dead Review

For Arcade

Rating: Good
  Sega's light-gun shooter House of the Dead is great fun at
first, but like most light-gun games, it does get a little 
old after a while.  At first, the game is an absolute blast.
You go around creepy looking areas blowing away zombies and 
other undead beings, occasionally having to shoot a creature
quickly enough to save a human it is about to kill (you get 
rewarded with health every time you save somebody).  Quick 
reflexes and accurate shooting are necessary for survival, 
and progression through the levels appears to be more based 
on skill than just shooting all over the screen and getting 
lucky and hitting something.  The game is even more fun with
another player shooting alongside you.  However, once the 
initial fun wears off, the game's flaws start to become 
ever-so-clear.  First of all, the bosses take so many shots 
to kill, and many of them move so quickly, that the boss 
stages just become a random shoot-fest that the rest of the 
game manages to never become.  Also, when two players are 
playing and a creature makes it pasts your bullets and 
attacks, it seems to be completely random which person takes
the hit and which one goes on without their health being 
depleted at all.  Despite these glaring flaws, House of the 
Dead is still pretty fun and light-gun shooting fans should 
definitely check it out.

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